Olivia Ong

Olivia Ong, born 2 October 1985 is a Singaporean singer. She sings mostly in English but developed her career singing in English and, later, Japanese.

Likened to Seiko Matsuda, she won a singing contest and was signed to a Japanese recording company S2S Pte Ltd at only 15.

After taking her O-level examinations in Singapore, Olivia moved to Japan to further her studies as well as her career as a solo artist. In Japan, she became a member of a Japanese pop (J-pop) group called Mirai, before she released her bestselling début, "A Girl Meets Bossa Nova" at only 19. With her sultry, soulful, pristine and innocent vocals, she reinterprets Frank Sinatra's hits such as "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars", among other jazz and pop numbers. She is one of the new wave of Singaporean talent being exported internationally.

So far, Olivia is the only pop sensation exported exclusively to Japan; previous stars such as Kit Chan, Tanya Chua, Stefanie Sun, Michelle Saram etc, have only been exporting to the Greater Chinese market through Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Sitti Navarro

Sitti Navarro or simply Sitti (born November 29, 1984), is a Filipino bossa nova artist. She is of Samal and Tausog descent and is best known for her soothing voice and her album, Café Bossa, which became a best-seller domestically. Sitti was born to lawyer Rolando Navarro and the former Lydia Baiddin, in Manila, Philippines. She graduated from the University of the Philippines in April 2005 with a degree in Business Economics and was a dean's lister at the same university. She was also editor-in-chief of the school paper and valedictorian in her high school days.

In college, she was an active member of AIESEC University of the Philippines Diliman Local Committee where she was the Vice President for Outgoing Exchange from 2003-2004. She was also a member of OBEM or the Organization of Business Economics Majors.

Sitti has won two beauty pageant awards: the title of Miss Visayas 2001 in the Miss Travel Girl Pageant, and the first runner-up prize in the search for "Miss Silka" where she also won both Miss Friendship and Best in Swimwear.

Since the age of 16, Sitti has been performing gigs at the Hyatt Calesa Bar and others. Although it was her dream to be a TV host, she is now one of the Philippines' newest singers. In 2004, MTV Philippines started "MTV Supahstar: D' Super Search", where Sitti was one of the winners. She also appeared in the group's music videos, showcasing her talents. It led to her recording contract.

Her debut album, Café Bossa, was released in 2006. Four songs have been released': "Tattooed On My Mind", a remake of the D'Sound hit; "Hey Look At The Sun", "I Didn't Know I Was Looking For Love", and "Para Sa Akin". She is also known for her version of "One Note Samba", originally performed by bossa nova queen Astrud Gilberto, whom Sitti idolizes. A live album, Sitti Live!, was released in late 2006, and Café Bossawas re-released with a VCD in 2007.

Sitti collaborated with Club Myx to release Sitti in the Mix - The Dense Modesto Remixes, a collection of songs from Café Bossa that were made into dance-electronica songs with the help of DJ Dense Modesto, in mid-2007, before the release of her second album My Bossa Nova, which focuses on more recent songs. My Bossa Nova was re-released in mid 2008 with a VCD of Sitti Live! 2 called My Bossa Nova Live! and is now a certified Platinum album at the moment.

In the third quarter of 2008, Sitti released her first Christmas album, Ngayong Pasko. Unlike her past albums, this album is purely a cover versions album with only one original song, the carrier single and title of the album, Ngayong Pasko. This album also has reached the Gold status in less than a month after its release.

Sitti has also collaborated with Asia's Pop Idol and Romantic Balladeer, Christian Bautista for his album Captured for a duet of the song of the same title. They once again collaborated for Sitti's Christmas album for the song "Baby It's Cold Outside".

Sofia

Sofia is a 23-year old bossa singer in the Philippines. She graduated from the University of Santo Tomas with a degree in Medical Technology. She is now a licensed medical technologist.

Sofia became the featured artist in a bossa-inspired album project of Ivory Records by accident. After graduating, she was on her way to Japan to pursue her research scholarship grant to study Hematology when she was asked to help gather research materials for the project, since she was into bossa nova since she was in high school. Aside from helping out for the lyrics, CDs, and other research materials, she was also asked to submit a demo tape so that Ivory Records would know what bossa sounds like. Sofia submitted a demo tape of the song "Desafinado". The record company was impressed, and then she was tapped to be a session singer. Eventually she was chosen to be the featured artist for the album.

Her album, entitled Bossa Latino Lite, debuted at number 11 at Tower Records’ Top 25 albums chart. Sofia's second album was released last December 28, 2006, entitled "In Love With Nova Bossa". On April 1, 2007, her debut album Bossa Latino Lite reached the gold mark. The awarding took place on SOP, a noontime television show in the Philippines.

Diana Krall

Krall was born into a musical family in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. She began learning the piano at the age of four. In high school, she started playing in a small jazz group. When she was 15 she started playing regularly in several Nanaimo restaurants.

At age seventeen she won a scholarship from the Vancouver International Jazz Festival to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

In Nanaimo her playing attracted the attention of famed bass player Ray Brown and drummer Jeff Hamilton. After hearing her play, Brown and Hamilton persuaded Krall to move to Los Angeles, and study with pianist Jimmy Rowles, with whom she began to sing. This also brought her into contact with influential teachers and producers. In 1990, Krall relocated to New York.

Her father Jim Krall's large record collection helped to expose the young Krall to jazz legends. Diana lost her mother Adella to multiple myeloma in 2002, within months of also losing her mentors Ray Brown and Rosemary Clooney. Diana's only sibling, Michelle, a former member of the RCMP, actively supports her older sister's career.

Krall and British musician Elvis Costello were married on December 6, 2003 at Elton John's estate outside London. Their twin sons Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlan James, were born December 6, 2006 in New York City.

Lisa Ono

Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Lisa Ono spent her childhood in Brazil until she became 10 years old. She started singing and playing the guitar when she was 15 years old, and her debut as a professional Bossa Nova singer was in 1989. Her natural voice, rhythmic guitar playing, and her charming smile led her to a huge success and helped Bossa Nova to be popular in Japan.

She has performed with many top musicians such as the legendary Antonio Carlos Jobim, the Jazz Samba giant Joao Donato, and has been performing enthusiastically in New York, Brazil and Asian countries. The album “Dream”, which was released in 1999, sold more than 2 hundred thousand copies in Japan, and since than she has established a determined position in the Japanese Bossa Nova community.